Hormel Workers Caught Abusing Pigs in Undercover Video

Compassion Over Killing (COK) released a new undercover video this week filmed at Quality Pork Processors (QPP), a Minnesota slaughterhouse that exclusively supplies Hormel, the makers of SPAM. The QPP slaughterhouse is part of a five-facility pilot program—which is being considered for nation-wide approval—that permits high-speed slaughter and has limited government oversight. In this facility, 1,300 pigs are killed every hour, making it one of the fastest-operating slaughterhouses in the country. “The excessive speed not only jeopardizes food safety for consumers, but also forces workers to take inhumane shortcuts that lead to extreme suffering for millions of pigs,” COK said in the video. Not only were animals beaten, hit, shocked, and dragged (among other abuses), sick and injured pigs were found to be slaughtered for food, raising health concerns for consumers. “If the USDA was around they could shut us down,” a worker said in the footage.